Bradykinin B2 receptor is involved in the late phase of preconditioning in rabbit heart.

Activation of bradykinin B2 receptor has been shown to confer short-term cardioprotection against a prolonged ischemic insult. The present study was designed to delineate the role of B2 receptor in the late phase of ischemic preconditioning. Anesthetized, open chest, male rabbits were assigned to 1 of 6 groups (n=8/group).

Calpain-mediated proteolytic cleavage of troponin I induced by hypoxia or metabolic inhibition in cultured neonatal cardiomyocytes.

While ischemic damage to myofibrillar proteins is thought to be responsible in part for depressed cardiac function, the relation between myofilament protein breakdown and chronic hypoxia has not been defined. We previously characterized a chemical hypoxia model of neonatal cardiomyocytes mediated by 1 mM azide that exhibits features of calpain activation (Mol Cell Biochem 178:141-149, 1998). We here show that both hypoxia and azide-mediated metabolic inhibition induced heme oxygenase-1 expression, and caused cell death associated with lipid peroxidation.

Problems with rabies postexposure management: a survey of 499 public hospitals in Thailand.

Rabies is still a major public health problem in Asia. The incidence of known annual human cases in India alone has recently been revised from 20,000 to 30,000, and over 500,000 patients are given some form of postexposure rabies treatment. Only China, Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand are reporting a significant decrease in the prevalence of this disease in humans.

An immunogenicity and efficacy study of purified chick embryo cell culture rabies vaccine manufactured in Japan.

Purified chick embryo cell rabies vaccine manufactured by the Chemo-Sero-Therapeutic Institute(Kaketsuken) at Kumamoto, Japan (Kaketsuken) was submitted to an immunogenicity and efficacy study. 52 severely rabies exposed patients were treated with the conventional five doses intramuscular WHO approved ('Essen') postexposure schedule. This included the administration of 40 IU kg-1 of equine rabies immune globulin on Day 0.

Immune response to simulated postexposure rabies booster vaccinations in volunteers who received preexposure vaccinations.

Several studies of the efficacy of intradermal postexposure rabies vaccination have shown that this procedure is safe, effective, and cost saving. Less is known about the reliability of the present World Health Organization (WHO)-approved intradermal preexposure regimen, which consists of three 0.1-mL doses that are generally given on days 0, 7, and 28.